Dive Review of Seadoors in
Philippines/Tubbataha

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Seadoors: "Not enough value for the money paid", Apr, 2023, by Michael Bode, Braunschweig, DE ( Sr. Reviewer 11 reports with 1 Helpful vote). Report 12421.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This was our second trip to Tubbataha after 27 years. We always wanted to go back to Tubbataha because 27 years ago we enjoyed dives there with more than 100 sharks during a single dive. The trip was actually planned for 2019. Due to Covid we had to postpone it to 2023. The french run Seadoors is a steel boat with an overall length of 27 m. There are 8 air conditioned cabins (6 standard and 2 deluxe) with hot shower and toilet. The cabins are small with little space to store your belongings. There are only two shaded areas on the ship. A rather cramped dining area in the back and a sitting area in the front part. There is also a sundeck on the top with no shade at all, which could only be used after sunset. For 16 divers the dive deck was too small. There is nearly no space to sit down and get dressed. Our group of 16 divers was therefore split up in two groups. So at least for getting dressed there were only 8 divers on the dive deck. However after the dive both groups very often returned at the same time. The briefing regarding the safety measures on board was pretty poor. There were two life jackets in each cabin and the charging of batteries was only allowed when someone was present in the cabin. In the air-conditioned salon in the middle of the ship, there was a designated area for charging batteries. Unfortunately, the skipper was unable to provide us with information about escape routes and the ship's muster station. In case of emergency, we were instructed to go to the ship's captain, which did not make much sense. Typically, there were four dives per day, starting with a small snack and coffee, followed by the first dive. Afterward, a proper breakfast was served, and after a one-hour break, the second dive followed. After lunch, dives number 3 and 4 took place, with the fourth dive happening approximately one hour before sunset. During the tour, two night dives were offered, but both were disappointing. The crossing from Puerto Princesa to Tubbataha took an extremely long 18 hours due to one of the engines failing. We arrived at Jessie Beazley Reef around 11 am instead of the scheduled 6 am. Almost all dives took place on the north or south sides of the reefs and atolls, depending on the direction of the current. Most dives in Tubbataha are wall dives. The reef roofs at 10-15 meters depth were covered with beautiful hard corals, while the walls were less covered. Usually, we descended to 25-30 meters at the beginning of the dive, and the dive guides kept an eye out for large fish. We saw small schools of hammerhead sharks four times during the trip, but always at depths greater than 30 meters. One group even saw a tiger shark and a thresher shark at a depth of just under 40 meters. The second half of the dive took place on the reef top at a depth of about 15 meters. During each dive, we saw several whitetip reef sharks, and individual gray reef sharks were regularly seen in the blue water below the reef edge. We also encountered schools of jacks at some dive sites. It was striking that there was a complete absence of groupers. Overall, we only saw a few snappers and sweetlips. It was also interesting that during our visit, we only saw a single large Napoleon wrasse. 27 years ago, we did dives in Tubbataha with more than a hundred sharks. Those times seem to be over for good. I suspect that intensive fishing must have taken place in Tubbataha during the COVID-19 pandemic. This would explain the significant decrease in biomass. According to our skipper, there were fewer anchor buoys available after the three COVID years than before. Apparently, nothing was done by the park administration to preserve the anchor sites during the pandemic. The park rangers have only one boat to monitor the entire park, which is clearly not enough. Overall, almost all divers in our group were disappointed with Tubbataha. Most of us had expected to see much more large fish and fish schools. The absence of groupers, Napoleon wrasses, snappers, and sweetlip schools suggests that uncontrolled plundering of this protected area must have occurred during the pandemic.
Websites	Seadoors
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Thailand, Red Sea, Mediterranean, Indonesia, Phillipines, PNG, Solomon Islands
Closest Airport	Puerto Princesa	Getting There	Flight from Manila to Puerto Princesa
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy	Seas	choppy
Water Temp	27-28°C / 81-82°F	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	15-25 M / 49-82 Ft
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	[Unspecified]
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	There is not much space for setting up your UWP-Gear. So everybody kept the gear in the small cabins. On the dive deck there are two special tanks for watering the gear after very dive.

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Dive Review of Seadoors in Philippines/Tubbataha

Seadoors: "Not enough value for the money paid", Apr, 2023,

Photos Submitted with this Report

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Seadoors in
Philippines/Tubbataha